Sunday, December 18, 2016

I went to Turkey for my birthday, a night filled with smoky charcoal grilled meats, zingy salads and soft and fluffy bread fresh from the oven. Except we didn't need our passports and no flights were required. We took a trip down the road to Enmore to Stanbuli and found ourselves transported to Turkey, snacking on meze and charcoal grilled meats in a non-stop two hour feast.

Cocktails

We've chosen the Chef's Menu at Stanbuli, a rolling banquet of dishes priced at $75 per person. The menu is entirely in the hands of head chef Ibrahim Kasif, although they will happily accommodate any dietary requirements. We let them know we'll eat everything - including all kinds of offal - and wait in suspense as to what will arrive.

Round 1: Snacks

Our table of nine is hit with an assortment of snacks to start. There's nothing quite like seeing a table littered with dishes. My favourite is probably the rockmelon, lush and syrupy sweet, against the cool brininess of Turkish sheeps milk feta.

Rockmelon with Turkish sheeps milk feta

House cured pastirma spiced beef with pickles

Ekmek daily baked house bread

The housebread is also amazing. Fresh from the oven, the crust is noisily crisp against its pillowy innards.

Turkish Cypriot style green olives

Midye dolma
Mussels stuffed with rice

And we're pleased to receive one of their signature dishes, mussels stuffed with rice. It's deliciously simple but so tasty for such a modest mouthful.

Round 2: Meze

Our table is cleared for the next round of dishes, a rainbow of meze. We pick our way through creamy lambs brains, tender pickled lambs tongue and a variety of cold dishes marked by a distinct tartness from pomegranate molasses.

Bakla broad beans in their pods
braised in olive oil, tomato and lemon

The broad bean dish is one of my highlights, cooked to a velvety softness with the slight acidity of lemon and tomato.

Cig kofte
Raw meatballs with bulgur, onion and tomato paste

Raw meatballs aren't as heavy on the raw meat as you'd expect. There's a chewiness from soaked bulgur, seasoned with tomato paste, onion and plenty of spices.

Patates yummurta provides a comforting eggy take on handcut chips. The cheesy zucchini and egg mix is like a blanket of cheesy scrambled eggs.

Whole chicken cooked over charcoal and wood with garlic tarator and lemon

Roasted chicken has a tantalising smokiness from charcoal and wood. The flesh is impressively succulent. We dip each piece greedily into the garlic tarator. Who cares about garlic breath when fluffy garlic dip is involved.